MASH, or Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing, is a program using $108 million from the California Solar Initiative to help provide solar panels to lower income families. MASH has recently finished its first solar installation on Hacienda Townhomes, an inexpensive housing complex owned by the San Diego Community Housing Corporation. Several tenants living there only bring in…

In addition to its 3.6-megawatt (MW) ground-mounted solar array, Denver International Airport (DIA) will be implementing another 4.4 megawatts of renewable energy this fall. With a grand total of 8 megawatts, the installation will place DIA as the largest photovoltaic energy producer in all of Colorado. Constellation Energy will finance, own and operate the solar installation and DIA will purchase the electricity produced by the system from Constellation over a 20-year period. “Denver’s airport has a widespread reputation…

Two companies in California’s Bay Area have made a collective donation to Second Harvest Food Bank. The cash offering will fund a $1.1 million, 322-kilowatt rooftop solar power system at the food bank’s facility in San Jose, CA. SunPower contributed their solar technology and Cypress Semiconductor supplied $700,000 to support the project. Two types of SunPower solar roof tiles will be utilized. Over the 25 year life of the system, it is…

Experts have warned homeowners agreeing to new “solar for free” offers that they could double their financial savings by paying for the panels themselves. Since a government tax incentive was launched in April 2009, solar PV installations have skyrocketed in the UK. This has left many homeowners vulnerable to a massive amount of companies offering to fit their homes with solar panels for free. Under the “rent your roof” model, the companies…

Through an arrangement with the Indian Parliament, the Punjab Energy Development Agency has invited bids for installing an 80 kW solar PV system. The solar array would provide battery backup for the Parliament building in the off-chance of a blackout, however over 50 percent of the generated power would be fed back into the grid. The project would help promote the use of solar PV systems which remain unpopular due to the high costs and lower efficiency when compared to other…